Prog 1973 Review – Orlok

Still reeling from what has been burned into his eyeballs during the “Gong Show Incident” here is Orlok with his take on the jumping on Prog…

COVER:
A really good effort by Sexton, this. I loved the dynamism in the pose and the smoke drifting across the logo was ok. Luckily it doesn’t obscure it too much so we should have no rage on the podcast. The blue tinge of the uniform works well here too, especially set against the sky of the Big Meg.
And in that sky we have the train of aerial vehicles and what looks like Luke’s landspeeder. A great nod.
Speaking of nods we have some terrible, terrible stuff on the cover in the form of the (obscured) Pete Wells Sausage Supermarket and the disturbing visage of Mr Burdis and his 7 Links Oddity Emporium. The biggest irony being that the actual chain on the cover has six links.
And a speech balloon! A Grud-damn speech balloon on the cover!
Loved it.

Inside, Tharg pimps out the Prog calling this an ideal jump on. Having read it I can state that the quality is not that great with only two stories with real bite. By that token, 1974 will be a jump off prog for some. Especially if they read the self-indulgent Damage Report.

DREDD:
A good opener from Carroll and a vast improvement over his recent stuff in my opinion.
We get a look at some underlying policies of the Big Meg with Hershey flatly stating that making a policy is cheaper than implementing that policy. Added to this is the changing special relationship with Brit Cit in that they can now make a demand that the Meggers will feel compelled to give in to. The Brits want to extradite Dredd and Joyce for an inquiry into the Blood Emerald incident, which is quite a turnaround for a government that assisted the Big Meg only a decade or so before with the Narcos incident.
With Dredd leading the fight against the raiders he is using this to train up more Cadets and judging by his actions in coldly executing a perp, Cadet Lorenzo will go a long way.
We also get a look at just how busy the Judges are and how Dredd will get three or four calls at once these days. The Judges can only take a smattering of that action on so it really does seem that despite the ratio of Judges to Citizens going up, the reduced number of officers covering the same huge city is causing problems.
It seems the villain is now a female General Grievous and I hope this is more to this than just a gimmick.

Colin gives great art.
Right from the off I was laughing with the “How’s My Killing?” sticker on the mutant raider vehicle and if there is one thing that blew me away it was the fluidity of movement in conjunction with the script. It really is an excellent pairing and that’s a practiced hand there.
I loved the top panel of page 2 with the profile shot of Hershey’s aging face and the simple blackness of her hair blending into the panel border. The Yellow Rose Of Texas singing mutant getting grabbed was also well done.
There are few who can carry off the scenery of the Cursed Earth like Colin and and that gorgeous red sunset was one of the best since the 1988 Dredd annual.

3RILLERS:
This story came across as a little flat with lots of dialogue and an ending that was strangely un-thrilling. Did some plastic curtains just come alive and attack people? Well if so, my pants have remained obstinately dry at this shocking finale.
At the root of this is a property developer looking to buy up a problematic building. Caught in the mix is an intermediary trying to flog the place, some holdouts and the enforcer tasked with the clearout of the filthy squatters inside.
The end is a bit puzzling to me with the ghostly drapes on the rampage and the phrase “Christ…run!” put forth.
That doesn’t look like Christ at all. The Holy Ghost maybe…

There’s some lovely art here and the layouts are sublime. There were also some nice little touches such as the Pear phone on page 3. It’s good to see Lynch can carry off the colour.
So, the art is good but the script (at this point) is a little underwhelming. I’m hoping to be surprised next week.

SURVIVAL GEEKS:
Well, it’s bandwagon time and since gender swaps were in vogue two years back it was only a matter of time before this sci-fi cliché story (with a permanent finger on the long dead pulse of social trends) cashed in.
There is much fluff here with a mad dash away from well realised terrors to a changed house with their Red Dwarf/Rule 63 counterparts confronting them. Oh, I just can’t wait to see what happens next.
And everyone seems to be shouting all the time in this story. Are they in an ISIL recruitment video or a B&Q commercial? Is it a madcap farce or a gentle poke in the ribs at geek culture? It doesn’t seem to know itself and to have this in the same prog where a man gets a trident to the face seems incongruous.
I’m not having a personal pop at the writers here as they can and have done better but this is painful stuff and it is the comic equivalent of being handcuffed to a radiator in Karachi with Joe Pasquale. For five fucking years.

The only saving grace here is the art which has some geek references thrown in (perhaps too many) such as the Weyland Corp t-shirt and the M41A/M240 combo being used to devastating effect on some Napoleonic bunnies. These bunnies, the splash page and the layouts were all excellent and you cannot fault the artist for the expressions and poses throughout.

TAINTED:
There is some bloody gorgeous art on display here and the misty panels, the grim sky and the sense of despair almost puts the scent of decay in your nostrils.
The design work on page 2 of the scarecrow with a bucket on its head and an oven glove for an arm speaks of a world where only salvaged bits and pieces are the difference between life and death for folks living on the fringes.
Page 4 also had a Skool of Hate t-shirt which is a nice nod to Young Death; Boyhood Of A Superfiend.

The story itself is good first effort and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by it.
With civil unrest and a HAARP like conspiracy fucking up the magnetic fields controlling the weather, it seems the Deadworld Justice Dept is trying a somewhat less hands on method to trim down the populous. The result is Superstorm Cassandra which lays waste to the farm where our protagonists reside. And the storm is just the start of the trouble as a downed Judge rolls in with it. Could this be Hoyle who seems to be the target of the resistance?
It’s going to be hard to get to grips with these people as we know that regardless of their actions, they are going to end up victims.
That said, I’m intrigued.

AQUILA:
A slower start to the proceedings with a change from the monster of the week it seems. Oh, wait…no, there’s one at the end as Aquila goes toe to toe with Charon.
One thing Rennie pulls off well is the historical data that gets thrown in for good measure and I really like this aspect of the stories. I just hope we have a departure from the previous form though. I’m getting tired of a history lesson backed by the same old story of Aquila meets monster/monster bests Aquila/Aquila turns tables and destroys monster.

The art is a change from the detail and washed out colour we have seen previously and though it is perfectly adequate it will take a while to adjust. There’s heads coming off, though, which is always fun. The gladiatorial combat was well realised and ended in brutal fashion with teeth popping out as trident strikes.

TOP THRILL:
Dredd was a great combo of well-paced story plus fantastic art.

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One comment on “Prog 1973 Review – Orlok”

Obviously MacNeil takes the laurels, and will every week until Grindstone Cowboys ends, but the small mammal army dressed like Quality Street is a visual banquet. Their general looks genuinely terrifying, but his dialogue is hilarious.

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